Scare Tactics
by annaoi
Summary: ONE SHOT: The Batman is captured and a thug realizes that it was a big mistake.


The last time that Scotty stood near the Batman was when they tried to kidnap a blonde socialite. His boss, the Penguin, had been down for the count. And so were his buddies – his boss' other thugs. Being the smallest of criminal bunch, it was natural for him to make a run for it. However, his legs had been glued to the ground by his own fear. Those white eyes that can, somehow, make him faint was the last thing he saw before waking up inside the GCPD's jail cell.

It's been a couple of months since that awful nightmare, and now the tables have turned.

Scotty was again a few feet from Batman, but he felt no fear. No sweat. And no worries. They were in an abandoned hospital with the caped crusader lying on one of the old and rusty operating tables. The masked hero was unconscious and loops of chains prevented him from any opportunity of escape. When the Scarecrow had sedated the dark knight with his special kind of fear toxin, Scotty had deemed all to be safe. All to be good. Batman wasn't a myth anymore. He was just a man in an animal costume. And just like a trophy for everyone to see, a make-shift spotlight showed the fallen hero. Motionless and helpless. Scotty liked the image. Mentally, he engraved it into his mind. To even show his satisfaction of this situation, he had volunteered to guard the prisoner. And with a pump-action shotgun on his hands, he stood there with a cocky grin on his face like he himself caught the big black Bat.

Meanwhile, Harvey Dent, a.k.a Two Face (and Scotty's new boss), was standing on the far corner of the room. Smiling at a huge diamond on his palm - a second trophy. Scotty didn't know for sure if it was worth the Batman's defeat. But It seemed like it to him because the boss smiling wide on both of his 'sides'. It's assumed that it's the same with Scarecrow who was sitting at the opposite corner, quietly reading one of the antique books, scrolls and supposed rare stuff that belong in the loot. His trophy. His way of celebrating. As expected, the guys, twenty of the boss' thugs in total, were rejoicing too. But only by fooling around with the rest of the stolen goods.

The guy they called "Baldy" wore the golden crown and held a scepter from the pile of treasures (which were the obvious favorites of the guys). Then, he struck a regal pose.

"Kneel!" he playfully shouted to the rest, not including the boss and Scarecrow, of course.

One of the guys responded with the same amount of hilarity: "Sure, your royal baldy-ness". He even bowed a little to make effect. And with that, the rest laughed as loud as a group can. Baldy was really a baldy and he didn't seem to be bothered by it, as Scotty observed.

"Shut up!" Two Face growled out of the blue, "Stop fooling around!"

Immediately the guys stopped laughing and started returning the shiny stuff to the pile of loot. Finally, they left the battered old room and headed for their positions in the old building. Scotty knew it's was probably just one of Dent's mood swings, but complying to his frequent, unneeded orders was always the wisest thing to do in a thug's life. Or else the he'll flip a coin on you. Nobody wants to take that chance.

Well, except for Scarecrow.

"Relax, Dent" said the villain, still in his mask, "Nobody's out to get you. I've sedated him. We threw away his belt. It's all over". His voice was calm but eerie.

Scotty didn't really like Scarecrow. He could be as scary as Batman was.

"Shut up!" retorted Two Face, "His allies might be looking for him"

"What? Robin?" Scarecrow said calmly as he closed the book in his hand, "Last I heard, he doesn't have a sidekick anymore. As far as I can tell, he doesn't have any help anymore"

Scarecrow stood up and approached the unconscious Batman. Scotty stepped away a bit and let the freak approached his prisoner. With his long fingers, Scarecrow held one of Batman's horns and lifted his head up as his whole body stayed limp.

"For as long as I can remember, I feared him" he stated, "When we defeated him earlier, that fear revealed itself as just an illusion. Now look at him! He is just a man in mask who pretends to be shadow that can't be caught…"

Scarecrow's menacing eyes turned to Two Face and continued.

"...I don't fear him anymore. And you shouldn't either."

Two Face crossed his arms to his chest and returned the stare with an annoyed gaze and scoffed.

"Suit yourself" Harvey replied, "You, of all people, should know that fear can sometimes save us from a world of pain"

Scarecrow grinned.

"Oh, Harvey. You don't even know the very definition of the word"

Scotty looked back and forth at Two Face and Scarecrow. He reminded himself that these people were members of Gotham's Rouges Gallery. All of the stories he heard about these kinds of criminals was enough to keep him on alert. Partnerships in this side of the town are always doomed from the start. And it could end in the worse way.

Meanwhile, Scarecrow was still holding one of Batman's horns like it belonged to a dead animal.

"Now... Let's see what's under there", he suggested.

He began to search for something on the cowl – an opening, maybe a zipper to take off the the cowl. While his eyes search, his hands were careful not to exert much force. Scotty couldn't help but be curious.

"W-why aren't you pulling it away?" he asked, so suddenly that he even surprised himself.

Scarecrow and Two Face were now looking at him. He was expecting Two Face to growl once more or Scarecrow to tell him to 'shut up' in his own way, but he was surprised to see that the two freaks just looked at him like he had asked something valid.

"He has securities on his cowl in case somebody tries to pull it off" Two Face explained.

It took a moment or two before Scarecrow said something.

"He might not have it today. But if you're still unsure, we could always test it out" he said with a creepy grin.

Scotty swallowed in anticipation. He held his shotgun tighter and closer to his body like a security blanket. Two Face took out his coin and flipped it. The half-dollar spun into the air before landing on his palm. The result made him smile.

"Pull it off" he ordered.

After a second or two, Scotty obeyed. He placed the rifle on the table next to Batman. Then, he grabbed the upper and lowers edges of the opening on the jaw.

"Don't worry" Scarecrow assured with his eerie voice, "I injected him with my new fear toxin. He's still having bad dreams while on a catatonic state. You won't wake him"

Scotty nodded. He reminded himself that it was all safe. Then, with an appropriate amount of strength, he pulled.

And suddenly, everything was pitch black.

Then he heard his boss shouting.

"What the hell!?"

Scotty realized that the spot light, the only light source in the room, was turned off. He had a really bad feeling.

Again, he heard Two Face shout another set of words.

"Scotty! The light!"

This time he didn't obey. He went for his gun in the dark, trying to feel it on the table where he left it.

"Scotty!" Two Face growled.

"Relax, I'm working on it" said Scarecrow.

Scotty found his gun and felt relief.

"Aha!" Scarecrow exclaimed.

And immediately, the light was turned on, but instead of feeling relief, they felt more nervous. The table was empty. The chains were loosed.

Their prisoner was gone.

The two freaks shouted profanities of shock and anger. Scotty felt his fear rising, clawing into his mind. Scarecrow lost the menace in his eyes. Two Face was sweating profusely and wide-eyed.

Then screams and gunshots from the corridor echoed.

Two Face grabbed his walkie talkie that was strapped on his belt and shouted: "What's happening?"

Silence.

"Baldy! Anyone!"

Long Silence.

Then Two Face grabbed one of the M16's that was stacked near the wall on his right.

"Crane, you charge up ahead. I'll man the entrance here" he ordered.

Scarecrow was shaking his head.

"Why me? You're the one with the gun!"

"Then grab one!"

Scarecrow did and but also took out his dart gun, the one with the mini syringes as bullets, the one with the fear toxin.

"Why don't you charge ahead and I'll follow" he suggested.

"No. I know how we'll make this fair" Two Face replied, "Scotty will charge up ahead and then we'll see what happens".

He cocked his rifle for effect. Scotty was about to shake his head but his boss anticipated it. So he saw Two Face's gun pointing at him.

"Do it", his boss ordered.

Without a word, he sighed and marched on, with his gun, towards the doorway.

Immediately after reaching the outside of the doorway, goose bumps started rising. The corridor was dark and silent. Cobwebs were at every corner. And beyond everything else was just darkness and cold air. It was really, REALLY, a bad idea to make an abandoned hospital their temporary base.

Two Face handed Scotty a flash light. He flicked it on.

"We'll follow behind" his boss said.

Somehow, that didn't comfort him. He counted up to three in his head and then sprinted towards the darkness. The flashlight helped at some point but the range of its brightness wasn't enough to let him see the fullness of the corridor. Plus, it kept shaking as he ran. With every step he felt numb. Occassionally, he'd glance back to see if Two Face and Scarecrow followed. But as his gut told him, the freaks never kept their word. He was just a thug. A disposable bait. Eventually, he stopped.

Holding his gun straight up, he nervously looked around. Nothing. No sign of Batman. However, he heard something move. He pointed the flashlight towards the source of the sound.

"W-who's there?" he asked nervously.

Nothing was there for a while before he heard a moan. He pointed the flashlight to random directions until he found a man's shiny head.

"Baldy!"

He dashed towards the fallen thug and knelt beside him.

"Baldy!" Scotty whisphered, "You alright, man?"

Baldy was lying on his back. No weapons on him. Just a black eye and pain on his ugly face. He just moaned some more.

"Dude! Tell me what happened!"

Baldy kept his eyes close. But his mouth started moving.

"I... I saw stars"

"What?"

"The golden rope... it... it got me"

It didn't make any sense, but Scotty pushed on.

"What else?"

"Watch... watch out... for her"

"What?"

He saw that Baldy had stopped the effort to speak. He was out of it after the last word. Scotty was even more confused. Stars? A golden rope? a woman? No.. Batman had done this. He shook it out of his brain and just concluded that his unconscious friend was hallucinating. No use waking him up and talking to him again. Maybe gibberish wordings would come out next.

"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!"

Scotty immediately turned around.

It sounded like his boss or maybe Scarecrow. Whoever he was, Batman got him. Without thinking, Scotty ran back to where he came from the started shooting blindly with his shotgun.

_Boom! Chk-chk, Boom! Chk-chk, Boom!_

The noise comforted him. And he was hoping that Batman would get hit, or at least get scared by the gun noises. He wanted it to be over. And deep down, he wanted to kill Batman to end his fears.

When he reached the doorway of their base, he saw that the table was still empty and the chains still hanged loosely on the edges. He panned his view and saw the rifles. He ran for the pile and dug for a better weapon. Some M16's and AK47's might do the job. But no. he needs something stealthy, something punishing. He looked back and he saw something shiny on the corner near the doorway.

Scarecrow's dart gun.

He ran for it, grabbed it and took a good look at it. There were three mini syringes left. Scarecrow must've dropped it while making a run for it.

On his right hand, Scotty held the dart gun. On his left was the shotgun. He stood up and silently decided to stay put and brace for what's coming. Two Face and Scarecrow were definitely gone and so were his buddies. All was left was himself, a pile of weapons and the loot… a whole pile of gold and jewels. It was all the things he wanted inside this lonely room.

He hanged the dart gun on his belt and cocked the shotgun. He faced the doorway and pointed the gun at the blackness.

Tonight was the night. He was going to kill the Batman.

And so, he waited.

And waited

And waited

And waited…

Scotty lowered the gun and made a questioning face.

"This is taking too long" he muttered to himself.

And just when he was about to believe that his adversary went home, a black object flew towards him and hit his torso. Stunned, he fell on his back. The black object was shaped like a bat and one of the pointy edge pierced his skin.

"Argh!"

Ignoring his pain, he grabbed the black little bat and threw it to the side. And while he was still lying down, Scotty shot at the blackness in front of him

_Boom! Chk-chk, Boom! Chk-chk, Boom! Chk-chk, Boom! Chk-chk, Click! Chk-chk, Click!... Click!_

He was out of shells. Quickly he stood up, grabbed the dart gun, pointed at the blackness and started shooting. Three rounds and then nothing.

Silence.

Nobody was coming.

And then…

"Stand down, Scotty. You don't want to get hurt" a low eerie voice called.

A different voice... A woman's voice

That's weird, he thought. That's definitely not Batman. As far as he knew, Batgirl hasn't made an appearance since something about the Joker that he heard in the news. Then the woman must be part of his justice buddies or whatever.

Then he put Baldy's words together. Terror was in his mind.

"Oh no... no no no no no!"

Out of panic, he jumped to the pile of weapons. But before he could grab one, something wrapped him tightly.

A golden rope.

He couldn't turn around to see who held the other end but he knew who it was. And right then, he also knew that he'll wake up behind bars again.

Lastly, one swift hit was behind his head and then darkness.

* * *

><p>Wonder Woman stood at the rooftop of an abandoned building. Careful not to get noticed by the ones below, she walked towards the edge and peaked below. The blue and red lights flashed. The thugs were cuffed, including Two Face and Scarecrow. Some of them still fought back despite but the GCPD had them under control.<p>

She felt relieved seeing that.

"You didn't have to come for me" said the low growly voice next to her.

She faced him and raised an eyebrow.

"If it weren't for my tampering on the electrical system, you wouldn't have any chance of escaping. I know how much you love the dark."

Batman remained motionless and emotionless. He also stood at the edge. His cape flapped in the wind.

"I would've had them" he replied.

"Without your belt and with that toxin in your blood? I doubt you could take twenty men while being groggy" she retorted.

"I had extra batarangs and I had an antidote"

She remembered the needle behind his glove.

"But it didn't totally work" she finally said.

She recalled that it wasn't fast enough because she had found Batman still struggling to stand while some men were ready to pounce him. Of course, she had faith that Bruce would handle it somehow. He always does. But the situation would've had him injured badly like some of his nights. So she swooped in to the rescue.

Now, under the night sky, he just glared. Already recovered and back to normal... But she knows what's coming.

"Don't you dare give me that 'this is my city' speech. In a few months, half of Gotham will be under my protection" she said as she flashed the engagement ring on her finger.

He gave up the glare and watched the action below. For a long time he was silent.

"You did good…"

Wonder Woman smiled. After all, she deserved that compliment.

"… but you should work on your stealth"

Her jaw dropped. After all that and he's still not totally happy with it.

"… you let the bald one see you"

"What?"

"… and you took too long on the last one."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"That was for the theatrics like you always do! Beside, scaring the last one was fun" she retorted. And truthfully she just wanted to try out one of his batarangs.

"He was just a thug, Diana" he explained plainly.

She sighed and then smiled.

"You know… If I didn't love you, I would kick you off of this rooftop"

Batman looked at her and continued the serious façade. Still, she approached him and gave him a quick peck on the lips. Then, she held his hand.

"We better head back. I need some rest"

But he responded by pulling her closer. He kissed her for what felt like a really long time. They only broke away when air was needed.

She smiled at him. He returned the favor by showing one of his rare smirks.

And then finally she said: "I like it more when you're kissing me and not being nit-picky about my tactics"

And together, they left the rooftop and vanished into the night.

**THE END**

* * *

><p><em>Author's Note:<em>

[UPDATE! - I added some minor changes in the story]

_Sorry guys if it's been too long. I was busy with work, school and other stuff. Anyway, this was just a story that was sitting inside my head for a long time and I was just trying out if I can make a good piece out of it. I'm still not sure if I did good or not but I hope it wasn't bad. I also wanted to practice some villain POV but I ended up writing about a fictional thug. I'm also not sure that I wrote Two Face and Scarecrow in character. I'm not really knowledgeable about their personalities. all I have is an audiobook that somewhat showed what they think about and some memories of the BTAS. But forgive me of they're OOC._

_I'll write more WonderBat fluff next time. _


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